Political will likely to mend Iranian-Saudi ties

TEHERAN — An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to have the political will to take a new step toward repairing bilateral relations, the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported.

Making the remarks at a weekly news conference, Nasser Kanaani said the two countries seem to agree on the adoption of a "constructive "approach toward the resumption of talks on the normalization of bilateral relations, of which five rounds have so far been held.

He said in view of the current situation, the possibility of holding a new round of Teheran-Riyadh talks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad exists.

"Iraq is trusted by both sides of the negotiations," Kanaani said, stressing that both Iran and Saudi Arabia welcome the Iraqi efforts.

He described the recent remarks by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud about Riyadh's preparedness for the continuation of talks with Teheran as positive.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart held a meeting last week on the sidelines of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in Jordan's Amman, marking the highest level of engagement reported between the two countries since they severed ties in 2016.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 in response to attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed a Shiite cleric.

To improve bilateral relations and ease regional tension, Baghdad hosted four rounds of direct talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year and the fifth round in April.

In a separate development on Monday, Kanaani said the "window of negotiations" to revive the 2015 nuclear deal is still open on Teheran's side.

Kanaani said the agreement is "within reach" if the Western side demonstrates the necessary determination.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with world powers in July 2015.

However, the US pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Teheran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

Xinhua